We're just listening to Newstalk ZB, and have heard that Christchurch has just been hit with possibly the strongest aftershock yet.
That's not the news that anyone wants to hear, but it suggests that Christchurch's problems are a long way from being over.
UPDATE: Geonet reports that it was "only" magnitude 4.1, but also that it was an exceptionally shallow quake; only 5km deep, hence the intensity. All whanau accounted for; thank goodness the cellphones are working!
UPDATE II: Whoops, that was the 7.42am one. The aftershock at 7.49am was magnitude 5.1 (100 times stronger) and 6km deep.
5 comments:
Went straight to the GNS site.
it says the shock was 4.1 on the richter scale, but quite shallow.
Still any bangof that sort in Christchurch would create fear.
Christchurch Rocks!
I hope that Geonet can handle all the traffic; just about everyone I know has it open at the moment!
Just spoke to my daughter, and could hear the fear in her voice for the first time. She's been full of youthful bravado thus far, but I think that veneer is starting to crumble.
I don't think she's alone in that Inv. Listening to Marcus Lush and a woman rang in after the last shock, still under the table...with the small quakes elsewhere yesterday, this weekend's planned trip to Wellington is looking less attractive too!
As I understand it there is a serious cumulative effect with stress disorder and as one in the zone so to speak, reaction has moved significantly from acceptance and bravado to a far more emotional response. I see Bob's "shit" outburst on Radio as entirely normal.
I accept school closures are perhaps appropriate but the sooner the kids can get some normality in their lives and can verbalise their inner thoughts among their mates is a priority.
One of the best therapys in these situations is to achieve an awareness of those worse off and there is plenty of evidence for that even if only the realisation that no one has been killed so far.
Just to be pedantic - each increase in magnitude (say 4.1 to 5.1) of an earthquake reflects a 10x greater shaking amplitude, or a release of ~30x more energy (not 100). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale
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